[...] readers who don’t frequent my personal blog might be interested in the latest 30-second video of Dog-dog posted over on Bicyclistic, where I dragged the dog out of a pub and gave it a ball and a small [...]

Amazing!… thanks for sharing, Eolai!… but I cringed for a moment near the end when it looked like that is a ROAD in the background and it looked like D-D wasn’t paying sufficient attention. I lost the only dog I ever had ( named Fred ) right in front of my eyes under similar circumstances so if you and D-D make a habit out of this PLEASE make sure D-D brushes up on the ‘How to not get hit by a car’ handbook.

Don’t worry Kevin - that’s not a road. It’s just a private drive to the house we were staying at on its own piece of land. The nearest road is a few hundred yards away beyond a gate.

You’re right though in that Dog-Dog has no road sense - the very few times she’s been out on road by herself, when a car approaches rather than get out of the way she stops in the middle of the road and smiles at the car. She once got loose in KC and held up several cars in both directions as she stood and smiled at them

Anyway - I wouldn’t dream of letting her anywhere near a road with a ball, so don’t worry. In fact I don’t let her off leash near a road even without a ball (Donegal boreens excepted).

In general the lack of rabbits and squirrels here compared with do KC make things that bit less dangerous, but the volume and speed of traffic tends to be more dangerous, so ball games will continue to be behind closed walls.

Thanks for the comeback, E. I feel better now! ( Really! ).
Keep your eye on D-D, though.
Sounds like she remains a candidate for an accident.
The only cure for something like this is prevention and
a watchful eye. None of us lives forever but to check out
under the wheels of a vehicle is just unnecessary.
This is just one of my pet peeves.
I took my ‘eye off the ball’ ( so to speak ) for just
a moment one day and lost one of my best friends.
I will never forget making a dive for
Fred as he ran towards the road and just missing being
able to grab his leg.
For the rest of my life I will be wishing my arm was
2 inches longer.
It’s an ugly burden to carry.
Avoid it yerself if at all possible.